Thursday, May 24, 2007

My Langkawi Escapade Prt One

It all started when Mr Tony's airline advertised in the papers for free tickets in conjuction of his airline's fifth annivessary. Honey Dearest and decided to pick Langkawi as our destination and she went ahead and purchased it online. We managed to get free fares for both ways and lnl had to fork out the tax and surcharge etc. May 16th - May 18th was the date we chose, for the sole reason that it's before the school break.

May 16th, 2007...

We made our way to the airport on the Star Shuttle bus from Subang Parade at around 1.00pm for our 4.10 pm flight. There were only 5 of us on the bus (with a capacity for 40+ passengers) and it makes me wonder how this fella can sustain such operation. However, after chit chatting with the lively driver (while Honey Dearest took a nap), I found out that the bus line actually belongs to a very big transportation company. Ok, now things make more sense.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Updates

My honey dearest gave me a journal for me to pen down my thoughts about two months ago. At that time, I was bitten by the creative writing bug and was in the midst of coming up with a plot for my ever elusive "great Malaysian novel". Anyway, just like my previous attempts, the novel got stuck at the "character naming" part.

I used to enjoy creative writing (I have been known to use my creative license rather "creatively", heheh) and I have volumes of short stories from my school and university days. When I first got my laptop, I thought that I could finally complete my own novel. I guess not... yet.

I have been quite tardy in terms of updating my blog, to the extend that friends and families have been calling me up to ask whether I am still blogging. I guess that certainly puts me in the not-so-disciplined blogger. That's why I have resorted to penning some of my thoughts in the journal that Honey Dearest gave me and later I can post it online.

Its actually a beautiful saturday morning (I wrote this in 5/5/07) today and under any normal circumstances, I would drag my Honey Dearest to the lake for a morning walk. Apparently my twice weekly gym routine only last me for a month and whatever motivation I got from talking to Aizal and seeing his 30kg weight loss in two years simply... poof... into thin air.l

I am spending his weekend (and the following four) attending the Kursus Asas Agen Kastam (KAAK) at the Wisma SFFLA in Port Klang. All forwarding companies are required to have at least two members of the staff with the certification and in fact, we used to have three. However, two of our certified senior staff left rather abruptly and with only one left, I decided to take the course myself.

The KAAK is not exactly cheap; RM1,200 for SFFLA members and RM1,500 for non-members. It comprised of lectures, quizzes and finally, a comprehensive exam to be held in July. This is certainly a good business forSFFLA (Selangor Freight Forwarders & Logistics Association). Based on my rough calculation, it stands to collect almost RM100,000 per session for 90+ students. Deducting the RM40k-50K plus for lecturers, food, course material etc, the association can easily net around RM50k!